Each month on the third Wednesday we invite someone from outside Wellington to speak to the One Mindful Breath community on a topic that interests them, and which will engage us. This is what our programme for 2019 looks like – so far. You might like to bookmark this page and come back to it as it will be updated from time to time.

Jan 16th • Lorna Edwards (Cardiff, Wales) with an invitation to share our experiences of being secular dharma students/practitioners in Wellington, Cardiff and ... ? You can watch our conversation with Lorna on YouTube.

Feb 13th • Winton Higgins (Sydney, Australia – in person) spoke on ‘Secular Buddhism and the western search for meaning’. Tracking the ‘know thyself’ aphorism from the ancient Egyptians, through the ancient Greeks (oracle at Delphi) and early Christianity, he showed how these lead to modern iterations, including secular philosophy and psychoanalysis – and the supreme importance of the inner life, the reflective life. His notes can be found here.

Mar 20th • Bernat Font (Barcelona, Spain) who will speak on self-respect. He will be asking: ‘Why do we sit? What motivation is there to be ethical? How do we prevent self-compassion from turning into self-pity?’ For Bernat, one response to all these questions is self-respect. The early texts call this ‘to love the self’. But, wait a minute … didn’t Buddhism say there is no self‽’ More on this here.

Apr 17th • Stephen Batchelor (Aquitaine, France) on solitude

May 15th • Anna Markey (Adelaide, Australia) who will ponder on the reasons we meditate

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Gratitude to Nick Hughes for creating this website, to Sotonian Jim ChampionandUnsplash for most of the lovely images, as well as to everyone who’s put a contribution in the box at an event and supports us through Aotearoa Buddhist Education Trust, enabling us to offer the teachings and experience of the practice without a fixed fee.Thanks also to all those who book the rooms, put out the chairs, welcome people, bring tea & bikkies, clear up at the end of a session, answer your texts, calls and emails, look after the community’s funds, take part in our care committee, and so much more. Words and spaces corralled by Ramsey Margolis.